1.
List of Renaissance composers
–
This is a list of composers active during the Renaissance period of European history. Composers on this list had some period of significant activity after 1400, before 1600, or in a few cases they wrote music in a Renaissance idiom in the several decades after 1600. The Burgundian School was a group of composers active in the 15th century in what is now northern and eastern France, Belgium, the school also included some English composers at the time when part of modern France was controlled by England. The Burgundian School was the first phase of activity of the Franco-Flemish School, the Franco-Flemish School refers, somewhat imprecisely, to the style of polyphonic vocal music composition in Europe in the 15th and 16th centuries. See Renaissance music for a detailed description of the style. The composers of this time and place, and the music they produced, are known as the Dutch School. However, this is a misnomer, since Dutch now refers to the northern Low Countries, the reference is to modern Belgium, northern France and the south of the modern Netherlands. Most artists were born in Hainaut, Flanders and Brabant and it encompassed an area which included present day Lithuania and Latvia and portions of what is now Ukraine, Belarus, Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Germany. As the middle class prospered, patronage for the arts in Poland increased, the Collegium consisted of nine singers. And although it was required that all members be Poles, foreign influence was acknowledged in the dedication of their sacred repertory, the Renaissance style also continued into a period in which many other European nations had already made the transition into the Baroque. The Tudor period of the 16th century was a time of intense interest in music, some English musical trends were heavily indebted to foreign styles, for example the English Madrigal School, others had aspects of continental practice as well as uniquely English traits. See lists of composers for the previous and following eras, List of Medieval composers List of Baroque composers Reese

2.
Romanos the Melodist
–
Saint Romanos the Melodist or the Hymnographer, was one of the greatest of Syrio-Greek hymnographers, called the Pindar of rhythmic poetry. He flourished during the century, which is considered to be the Golden Age of Byzantine hymnography. The main source of information about the life of Romanos comes from the Menaion for October, beyond this, his name is mentioned by only two other ancient sources. One in the eighth-century poet St. Germanos, and once in the Souda, from this scanty evidence we learn that he was born to a Jewish family in either Emesa or Damascus in Syria. He was baptized as a young boy, having moved to Berytus, he was ordained a deacon in the Church of the Resurrection there. There he served as sacristan in the Great Church, residing to the end of his life at the Monastery of Kyros, according to legend, Romanus was not at first considered to be either a talented reader or singer. He was, however, loved by the Patriarch of Constantinople because of his great humility and he read so poorly that another reader had to take his place. Some of the lesser clergy ridiculed Romanus for this, and being humiliated he sat down in one of the choir stalls, overcome by weariness and sorrow, he soon fell asleep. As he slept, the Theotokos appeared to him with a scroll in her hand and she commanded him to eat the scroll, and as soon as he did so, he awoke. The emperor, the patriarch, the clergy, and the congregation were amazed at both the profound theology of the hymn and Romanos clear, sonorous voice as he sang. According to tradition, this was the very first kontakion ever sung, the scene of Romanoss first performance is often shown in the lower register of Pokrov icons. Romanos wrote in an Atticized literary koine— i. e. he had a popular, arresting imagery, sharp metaphors and similes, bold comparisons, antitheses, coining of successful maxims, and vivid dramatization characterize his style. Today, usually only the first strophe of each kontakion is chanted during the divine services, a full kontakion was a poetic sermon composed of from 18 to 30 verses or ikoi, each with a refrain, and united by an acrostic. When it was sung to a melody, it was called an idiomelon. Originally, Saint Romanos works were simply as psalms, odes. It was only in the century that the term kontakion came into use. Romanus is one of many persons who have been credited with composing the famous Akathist Hymn to the Theotokos which is chanted so often as a devotion by Orthodox Christians. There exists in the library of Moscow a Greek manuscript which contains kontakia and oikoi for the whole year, professor Krumbacher says of his work, In poetic talent, fire of inspiration, depth of feeling, and elevation of language, he far surpasses all the other melodes

3.
Yared
–
Saint Yared was a legendary Ethiopian musician credited with inventing the sacred music tradition of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church and Ethiopias system of musical notation. He is responsible for creating the Zema or the chant tradition of Ethiopia, particularly the chants of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church and he is regarded as a saint of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church with a feast day of 11 Genbot. His name is from the Biblical person known in English as Jared, Yared was born in the city of Aksum to Abyud and Christina. His parents were born and raised in Aksum and his father died when he was seven, and his mother sent him to be raised by his uncle Gidewon, a priest who taught religious studies. Yared arranged and composed hymns connected to religious celebrations and holidays and this music, claim Debtera, is the basis of their performances. Yared wrote five volumes of Zema chants for church services and celebrations and these volumes include The Book of Digua and Tsome Digua, The Book of Meraf, The Book of Zimare, The Book of Mewasit. Tradition states that Yared was a favorite of the Emperor Gabra Masqal, according to legend, the emperor once became so enchanted with Yareds singing that he accidentally dropped his spear on Yareds foot during a performance. As an apology, the emperor offered to grant Yared a request, Yared requested to live the remainder of his life in solitude, where he could focus on prayer, meditation, and music composition. He spent his years as a recluse in the Semien Mountains. Ethiopian chant A brief History of Saint Yared Biography of Saint Yared Yelibenwork Ayele, honoring St. Yared, Ethiopia’s father of music. Ethiopian Reporter, Saturday August 30,2008, charles L. Chavis Jr. Saint Yared

4.
Otfrid of Weissenburg
–
Otfrid of Weissenburg was a monk at the abbey of Weissenburg and the author of a gospel harmony in rhyming couplets now called the Evangelienbuch. It is written in the South Rhine Franconian dialect of Old High German, the poem is thought to have been completed between 863 and 871. Otfrid is the first German poet whose name we know from his work and he studied under Hrabanus Maurus at Fulda and had moved to Weissenburg by 830. Apart from the Evangelienbuch, he is the author of a number of works in Latin, including biblical commentary, with 7104 couplets, the Evangelienbuch is the first substantial literary work and the first use of rhyme in German literature - surviving earlier German poetry is alliterative. There are three dedications, To Louis the German To Solomon I, Bishop of Constance At the end of the work, to his friends Hartmuat and Werinbert, monks at the Abbey of St. He also gives the following outline of the structure of the Evangelienbuch, I have, then, of them the first commemorates the birth of Christ, it ends with the baptism and the teaching of John. The second, His disciples already having been called together, tells how He revealed Himself to the world both by certain signs and by His most brilliant teaching, the third tells a little about the brilliance of the signs and the teaching to the Jews. The fourth tells then how, approaching His passion, He willingly suffered death for us, the fifth calls to memory His resurrection, His conversation afterwards with His disciples, His ascension and the Day of Judgment. The poem is preserved in four manuscripts, one of which is fragmentary, all the manuscripts are contemporary, and the Vienna manuscript carries corrections which are generally considered to have been made by Otfrid himself. The Heidelberg manuscript also includes the Georgslied, Otfrid von Weißenburgʼs Gospel Book - full text of Wolffs 1973 edition. Otfrid von Weißenburg, Evangelienbuch Band I, Edition nach dem Wiener Codex 2687, otfrids Evangelienbuch, 6th edn, ed. Ludwig Wolff, Tübingen, Niemeyer,1973. J. Knight Bostock, A Handbook on Old High German Literature, 2nd edn, revised by K. C. King and D. R. McLintock, W. Schröder Otfrid von Weißenburg in Die deutsche Literatur des Mittelalters

5.
Kassia
–
Kassiani was a Byzantine abbess, poet, composer, and hymnographer. She is one of the first medieval composers whose scores are both extant and able to be interpreted by scholars and musicians. Approximately fifty of her hymns are extant and twenty-three are included in Orthodox Church liturgical books, the exact number is difficult to assess, as many hymns are ascribed to different authors in different manuscripts and are often identified as anonymous. In addition, some 789 of her non-liturgical verses survive, many are epigrams or aphorisms called gnomic verse, for example, I hate the rich man moaning as if he were poor. Kassiani is notable as one of only two Byzantine women known to have written in their own names during the Middle Ages, the other being Anna Comnena and her name is a feminine Greek form of the Latin name Cassius. It is variously spelled Κασσιανή, Κασία, Εικασία, Ικασία, Kassiani, Casia, Cassiane, Kassiani was born between 805 and 810 in Constantinople into a wealthy family and grew to be exceptionally beautiful and intelligent. Smitten by Kassianis beauty, the young emperor approached her and said, Through a woman the baser, referring to the sin and suffering coming as a result of Eves transgression. Kassiani promptly responded by saying, And through a woman the better, according to tradition, the verbatim dialogue was, -Ἐκ γυναικὸς τὰ χείρω. Medieval Greek, -Kαὶ ἐκ γυναικὸς τὰ κρείττω, Medieval Greek, His pride wounded by Kassianis terse rebuttal, Theophilos rejected her and chose Theodora as his wife. When next we hear of Kassiani in 843 she had founded a convent in the west of Constantinople, near the Constantinian Walls, and became its first abbess. However, since the life was a common vocation in her day. Among other things, she was subjected to scourging with a lash, in spite of this, she remained outspoken in defence of the Orthodox Faith, at one point saying, I hate silence, when it is time to speak. After the death of Theophilos in 842 his young son Michael III became Emperor, together they ended the second iconoclastic period, peace was restored to the empire. Kassiani traveled to Italy briefly, but eventually settled on the Greek Island of Kasos where she died sometime between 867 and 890 AD. In the city of Panaghia, there is a church where Kassianis tomb/reliquiary may be found Kassiani wrote many hymns which are used in the Byzantine liturgy to this day. Kassiani became known to the great Theodore the Studite, while she was still a young girl and she not only wrote spiritual poetry, but composed music to accompany it. She is regarded as an exceptional and rare phenomenon among composers of her day At least twenty-three genuine hymns are ascribed to her, the most famous of her compositions is the eponymous Hymn of Kassiani, sung every Holy Wednesday. Tradition says that in his years the Emperor Theophilus, still in love with her, wished to see her one more time before he died

6.
Notker the Stammerer
–
Notker the Stammerer, also called Notker I, Notker the Poet or Notker of Saint Gall, was a musician, author, poet, and Benedictine monk at the Abbey of Saint Gall in modern Switzerland. He is commonly accepted to be the Monk of Saint Gall who wrote Gesta Karoli, Notker was born around 840, to a distinguished family. He would seem to have born at Jonschwil on the River Thur, south of Wil, in the modern canton of Saint Gall in Switzerland. He studied with Tuotilo at Saint Galls monastic school, and was taught by Iso of St. Gallen, and he became a monk there and is mentioned as librarian in 890 and as master of guests in 892–4. He was chiefly active as a teacher, and displayed refinement of taste as poet and he completed Erchanberts chronicle, arranged a martyrology, composed a metrical biography of Saint Gall, and authored other works. In his martyrology, he appeared to one of St Columbas miracles. St Columba, being an important father of Irish monasticism, was important to St Gall. And shortly after Columba saw this, sailors from Gaul arrived to tell the news of it, Notker claimed in his martyrology that this event happened and that an earthquake had destroyed a city which was called new. It is unclear what this city was that Notker was claiming, however Naples was destroyed by a volcano in 512 before Columba was born, and not during Columbas lifetime. It is unknown how many or which of the contained in the collection are his. The hymn Media Vita, was attributed to him late in the Middle Ages. Ekkehard IV wrote of fifty sequences composed by Notker and he was formerly considered to have been the inventor of the sequence, a new species of religious lyric, but this is now considered doubtful, though he did introduce the genre into Germany. It had been the custom to prolong the Alleluia in the Mass before the Gospel, Notker learned how to fit the separate syllables of a Latin text to the tones of this jubilation, this poem was called the sequence, formerly called the jubilation. From 881–7 Notker dedicated a collection of verses to Bishop Liutward of Vercelli. The Monk of Saint Gall, the writer of a volume of didactic eulogistic anecdotes regarding the Emperor Charlemagne, is now commonly believed to be Notker the Stammerer. His teacher was Grimald von Weißenburg, the Abbot of Saint Gall from 841 to 872, who was and it was written for Charles the Fat, great-grandson of Charlemagne, who visited Saint Gall in 883. Several of the Monks tales, such as that of the nine rings of the Avar stronghold, have used in modern biographies of Charlemagne. Thorpe, Lewis, Two Lives of Charlemagne Yudkin, Jeremy, life of Charlemagne at Project Gutenberg, translated by A. J

7.
Tuotilo
–
Saint Tuotilo was a medieval monk and composer. Born in Alemannic Germany, he is said to have been a large and powerfully built man, always cheerful and in excellent spirits, he was a general favourite. He received his education at St. Galls, from Iso and he was the friend of Notker of St. Gall, with whom he studied music under Moengal. Educated at the Abbey of St. Gall, he remained to become a monk there, Tuotilo was a poet, hymnist, architect, painter, sculptor, metal worker, and composer. His artistic interests included book illumination and music, Tuotilo was a good speaker, had a fine musical voice, was a capital carver in wood, and an accomplished illuminator. Like most of the monks of St. Gall, he was a clever musician, equally skilful with the trumpet. Besides being teacher of music in the school to the sons of the nobility, he was a classical tutor. His chief accomplishments, however, were music and painting, and he was much in request and by the permission of his abbot travelled to distant places. One of his sculptures was the image of the Blessed Virgin for the cathedral at Metz. In addition, he was a mathematician and astronomer, and constructed an astrolabe or orrery, Tuotilo played several instruments, including the harp. The history of the ecclesiastical drama begins with the trope sung as Introit of the Mass on Easter Sunday and it has come down to us in a St. Gallen manuscript dating from the time of Tuotilo. According to the catalogue of Ekkehard IV, Casus sancti Galli, Tuotilo is the author of five tropes. Some of them are available in modern editions, james Midgley Clark points out that the most interesting items at the St. Gallen Abbey in Switzerland are the ivory tablets attributed to Tuotilo, which form the cover of the Evangelium Longum. Tuotilos paintings can be found at Konstanz, Metz, St. Gallen, Tuotilo was buried at a chapel dedicated to Saint Catherine in St. Gall, which was later renamed for him. His feast day is celebrated on March 28

8.
Leo VI the Wise
–
Leo VI, called the Wise or the Philosopher, was Byzantine Emperor from 886 to 912. The second ruler of the Macedonian dynasty, he was very well-read, born to the empress Eudokia Ingerina, Leo was either the illegitimate son of Emperor Michael III or the second son of his successor, Basil I the Macedonian. Eudokia was both Michael IIIs mistress and Basil’s wife, in 867, Michael was assassinated by Basil, who succeeded him as Emperor. As the second eldest son of the Emperor, Leo was associated on the throne in 870, Basil married Zoe off to an insignificant official, and later almost had Leo blinded when he was accused of conspiring against him. On August 29,886, Basil died in a hunting accident and this contributed to the suspicion that Leo was in truth Michaels son. His attempts to control the great aristocratic families occasionally led to serious conflicts, Leo also attempted to control the church through his appointments to the patriarchate. He dismissed the Patriarch Photios, who had been his tutor, on Stephens death in 893, Leo replaced him with Zaoutzes nominee, Antony II Kauleas, who died in 901. The church is one of the best examples of Byzantine architecture, Leo also completed work on the Basilika, the Greek translation and update of the law code issued by Justinian I, which had been started during the reign of Basil. According to one story, he was captured by the city guards during one of his investigations. Late in the evening, he was walking alone and disguised, though he bribed two patrols with 12 nomismata and moved on, a third city patrol arrested him. When a terrified guardian recognized the jailed ruler in the morning, Leo VIs fortune in war was more mixed than Basils had been. In indulging his chief counselor Stylianos Zaoutzes, Leo provoked a war with Simeon I of Bulgaria in 894, bribing the Magyars to attack the Bulgarians from the north, Leo scored an indirect success in 895. However, deprived of his new allies, he lost the major Battle of Boulgarophygon in 896 and had to make the required commercial concessions, nevertheless, the same period also saw the establishment of the important frontier provinces of Lykandos and Leontokome on territory recently taken from the Arabs. In 907 Constantinople was attacked by the Kievan Rus under Oleg of Novgorod, Leo paid them off, but they attacked again in 911, and a trade treaty was finally signed. Leo VI caused a scandal with his numerous marriages which failed to produce a legitimate heir to the throne. Upon this marriage Leo created the title of basileopatōr for his father-in-law, after Zoes death a third marriage was technically illegal, but he married again, only to have his third wife Eudokia Baïana die in 901. Instead of marrying a fourth time, which would have been a greater sin than a third marriage Leo took as mistress Zoe Karbonopsina. He married her only after she had given birth to a son in 905, replacing Nicholas Mystikos with Euthymios, Leo got his marriage recognized by the church

9.
Odo of Cluny
–
Odo of Cluny was the second abbot of Cluny. He enacted various reforms in the Cluniac system of France and Italy and he is venerated as a Saint by the Catholic Church and Eastern Orthodox Church and his feast day is 18 November. There is only one contemporary biography of him, the Vita Odonis written by John of Salerno, Saint Odo was the son of Abbo, a feudal lord of Deols, near Le Mans. Abbo was a devout man who would frequently recite the precepts of the gospel to those around him. According to Odos later disciple John, before Odo was born, Abbo went on his knees one Christmas in the middle of the night and asked God for the gift of a son, Peter and Paul then said they would do so, but only for a time. The patron saints of Cluny Abbey were in fact Peter and Paul and his father then stopped his education and sent him to work as a page at the court of William the Pious, duke of Aquitaine, where he passed his days in hunting and military exercises. However, Odo felt deeply dissatisfied with his life there, on Christmas Day he felt such deep reproach like his life was not pleasing to Christ and he then turned to the Virgin Mary, praying to her for help. But after he said this prayer he began to have a pain in his head that continued for three years. Abbo then remembered the prayer he had made to Saint Martin when his son was a baby and his son then grew up very healthy and strong, almost like it was an answer to the prayer. But his son was healthy so much so, that Abbo then forgot his original prayer, but his son was now suffering so greatly. Abbo felt like this was all a sign from Martin, and he prayed again to Martin, Behold, truly as is fitting thou art quick to hear our vows but expensive art thou in business. Abbo then told Odo about the story, and Odo left Williams court to go to Tours, the site of Martins shrine and he then went to the monastery of St. Martin of Tours to live a religious life as a canon. In the 9th and 10th centuries, the shrine of St Martin of Tours was treated as one of the holiest sites in western Christendom, huge numbers of pilgrims would come there every year to see the relics of St Martin. Many miracles were said to have occurred within the vicinity of the tomb, when Odo came there, however, he was very upset at what he saw. The fact that such a thing was happening in such a place as Tours convinced Odo that this was a very grand sacrilege taking place. He later called it the abomination of desolation, Odo became a canon in Tours, and at first he lived the same way as the other canons. But after some time passed, he felt disgusted by it and instead he disciplined himself and he would spend days in spiritual reading and nights in prayer. His reading, however, was not limited to spiritual books and he also read the poems of Virgil

10.
Guido of Arezzo
–
Guido of Arezzo was an Italian music theorist of the Medieval era. He is regarded as the inventor of musical notation that replaced neumatic notation, his text. Guido was a monk of the Benedictine order from the Italian city-state of Arezzo, recent research has dated his Micrologus to 1025 or 1026, since Guido stated in a letter that he was thirty-four when he wrote it, his birthdate is presumed to be around 991 or 992. His early career was spent at the monastery of Pomposa, on the Adriatic coast near Ferrara, while there, he noted the difficulty that singers had in remembering Gregorian chants. He came up with a method for teaching the singers to learn chants in a short time, while at Arezzo, he developed new techniques for teaching, such as staff notation and the use of the ut–re–mi–fa–so–la mnemonic. A seventh note, Si was added shortly after to complete the diatonic scale, in Anglophone countries, Si was changed to Ti by Sarah Glover in the nineteenth century so that every syllable might begin with a different letter. Ti is used in tonic sol-fa and in the song Do-Re-Mi, the Micrologus, written at the cathedral at Arezzo and dedicated to Tedald, contains Guidos teaching method as it had developed by that time. Soon it had attracted the attention of Pope John XIX, who invited Guido to Rome, most likely he went there in 1028, but he soon returned to Arezzo, due to his poor health. It was then that he announced in a letter to Michael of Pomposa his discovery of the ut–re–mi musical mnemonic, little is known of him after this time. Guido is credited with the invention of the Guidonian hand, a widely used mnemonic system where note names are mapped to parts of the human hand. However, only a form of the Guidonian hand is actually described by Guido, and the fully elaborated system of natural, hard. In the 12th century, a development in teaching and learning music in an efficient manner had arisen. Guido of Arezzos alleged development of the Guidonian hand, more than a years after his death. Using specific joints of the hand and fingertips transformed the way one would learn, not only did the Guidonian hand become a standard use in preparing music in the 12th century, its popularity grew more widespread well into the 17th and 18th century. The knowledge and use of the Guidonian hand would allow a musician to simply transpose, identify intervals, and aid in use of notation, musicians were able to sing and memorize longer sections of music and counterpoint during performances and the amount of time spent diminished dramatically. The computer music notation system GUIDO music notation is named after him, the International Guido dArezzo Polyphonic Contest is named after him. Francisco Valls controversial Missa Scala Aretina took its name from Guido Aretinus scale, gamut Monochord Soggetto cavato Solmization solfege Richard Hallowell Hoppin, Medieval Music. New York, W. W. Norton & Company,1978, stuart Lyons, Music in the Odes of Horace

11.
Wipo of Burgundy
–
Wipo of Burgundy was a priest and writer. He was a chaplain to the Holy Roman Emperor Conrad II, whose biography he wrote in chronicle form, Gesta Chuonradi II imperatoris. Present at the election of Conrad II, he most likely followed the emperor on his campaigns into Burgundy and against the Slavs and he presented his work to Conrad’s son Henry III in 1046, not long after Henry was crowned. In this Wipo fully understands his subject, is fresh and animated, but he does not fully grasp the general conditions of the age, especially the emperor’s manifold relations to the ruling princes and the Church. His style is simple and fluent, and his language well-chosen and he mentioned Henry’s younger sister Matilda as a fiancée of King Henry I of France and records her death and burial at Worms, Germany in 1034. Among his other extant writings are the maxims, Proverbia, presented to Henry in 1041, it is a eulogy of the emperor mixed with earnest exhortations, emphasizing that right and law are the real foundations of the throne. He wrote a lament in Latin on Conrad’s death, and is believed to have written the famous sequence for Easter, breslau, Wiponis Gesta Chuonradi II ceteraque quae supersunt opera. This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Herbermann, Charles

12.
Hermann of Reichenau
–
Hermann of Reichenau, also called Hermannus Contractus or Hermannus Augiensis or Herman the Cripple, was an 11th-century scholar, composer, music theorist, mathematician, and astronomer. He composed the Marian prayer Alma Redemptoris Mater, Hermann was a son of the Earl of Altshausen. He was crippled by a disease from early childhood. He was born July 18,1013, with a cleft palate, based on the evidence, however, more recent scholarship indicates Hermann possibly had either amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or spinal muscular atrophy. As a result, he had difficulty moving and could hardly speak. At seven, he was placed in a Benedictine monastery by his parents who could no longer look after him and he grew up in the monastery, learning from the monks and developing a keen interest in both theology and the world around him. He spent most of his life in the Abbey of Reichenau, Hermann contributed to all four arts of the quadrivium. He was renowned as a musical composer and he also wrote a treatise on the science of music, several works on geometry and arithmetics and astronomical treatises. As a historian, he wrote a chronicle from the birth of Christ to his own present day. One of his disciples Berthold of Reichenau continued it, at twenty, Hermann was professed as a Benedictine monk, spending the rest of his life in a monastery. He was literate in several languages, including Arabic, Greek and Latin and wrote about mathematics, astronomy and he built musical and astronomical instruments and was also a famed religious poet. When he went blind in life, he began writing hymns. Herman died in a monastery on September 24,1054, aged 40, the Roman Catholic Church beatified him in 1863. Three of five symphonies that were written by Russian composer Galina Ustvolskaya are based on his texts, list of Roman Catholic scientist-clerics McCarthy, T. J. H. Music, scholasticism and reform, Salian Germany, 1024–1125, pp. 23–30, 62–71. Edited and translated by Leonard Ellinwood, revised with a new introduction by John L. Snyder, xviii +221 pp. OConnor, John J. Robertson, Edmund F. Hermann of Reichenau, MacTutor History of Mathematics archive, University of St Andrews. Catholic Encyclopedia Hermannus Contractus German language site with a collection of original texts Catholic Forum musicologie. org Hermannus Contractus et la théorie de la musique

13.
Godric of Finchale
–
Saint Godric of Finchale was an English hermit, merchant and popular medieval saint, although he was never formally canonised. He was born in Walpole in Norfolk and died in Finchale in County Durham, Saint Godrics life was recorded by a contemporary of his, a monk named Reginald of Durham. Several other hagiographies are also extant and this encounter changed his life, and he devoted himself to Christianity and service to God thereafter. After many pilgrimages around the Mediterranean, Godric returned to England and he had previously served as doorkeeper, the lowest of the minor orders, at the hospital church of nearby St Giles Hospital in Durham. He is recorded to have lived at Finchale for the sixty years of his life. As the years passed, his reputation grew, and Thomas Becket, Reginald describes Godrics physical attributes, For he was vigorous and strenuous in mind, whole of limb and strong in body. St Godric is perhaps best remembered for his kindness toward animals, according to one of these, he hid a stag from pursuing hunters, according to another, he even allowed snakes to warm themselves by his fire. Reginald of Durham recorded four songs of St Godrics, they are the oldest songs in English for which the musical settings survive. Reginald describes the circumstances in which Godric learnt the first song, in a vision the Virgin Mary appeared to Godric with at her side two maidens of surpassing beauty clad in shining white raiments. They pledged to come to his aid in times of need, the novel Godric by Frederick Buechner is a fictional retelling of his life and travels. It was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, Reginald of Durham, Life of St. Godric, in G. G. Coulton, ed. Social Life in Britain from the Conquest to the Reformation Cambridge, Cambridge University Press,1918, – digital copy Frederick Buechner, Godric,1981, ISBN 0-06-061162-6, a historical novel. Entry for Godric, first edition of the Dictionary of National Biography, victoria M. Tudor, Reginald of Durham and St. Godric of Finchale, a study of a twelfth-century hagiographer and his subject, Reading PhD thesis,1979. Victoria M. Tudor, Reginald of Durham and Saint Godric of Finchale, learning and religion on a personal level, Studies in Church History,17,1981. Susan J. Ridyard, Functions of a Twelfth-Century Recluse Revisited, The Case of Godric of Finchale, in Belief and Culture in the Middle Ages, Studies Presented to Henry Mayr-Harting. Henry Mayr-Harting, Henrietta Leyser and Richard Gameson, pp. Francis Rice, rector of St Godrics The Hermit of Finchdale, Life of Saint Godric Pentland Press ISBN 1-85821-151-4 Trend, J. B. Anglo-Norman Durham, 1093–1193, Boydell & Brewer, ISBN 0-85115-654-1 Medieval SourceBook, Reginald of Durham, Life of Saint Godric, the Hermit in Lore, Frederick Buechners Godric. Santë Marië Virginë performed by the music group La Reverdie

14.
William IX, Duke of Aquitaine
–
William IX, called the Troubador, was the Duke of Aquitaine and Gascony and Count of Poitou between 1086 and his death. He was also one of the leaders of the Crusade of 1101, William was the son of William VIII of Aquitaine by his third wife, Hildegarde of Burgundy. His birth was a cause of celebration at the Aquitanian court. This obliged his father to make a pilgrimage to Rome soon after his birth to seek Papal approval of his third marriage, William inherited the duchy at the age of fifteen upon the death of his father. It has been believed that he was first married in 1088, at age sixteen, to Ermengarde. Biographers have described Ermengarde as beautiful and well-educated, though suffering from mood swings. Tyre erroneously identifies Ermengardes mother as Bertrade of Montfort, the sister of Amalricus de Montfort when her mother was in fact Audearde or Hildegarde of Beaugency, tyres chronicle lacks any contemporary corroboration, no primary text ever mentions a marriage between William and Ermengarde. It is therefore not only improbable that William married Ermengarde, it is likely that Ermengarde - at least as a wife of William - never existed, in 1094, William married Philippa, the daughter and heiress of William IV of Toulouse. By Philippa, William had two sons and five daughters, including his successor, William X. William invited Pope Urban II to spend the Christmas of 1095 at his court. He and Philippa did capture Toulouse in 1098, an act for which they were threatened with excommunication, to finance it, he had to mortgage Toulouse back to Bertrand, the son of Raymond IV. The Duchess was an admirer of Robert of Arbrissel, and persuaded William to grant him land in northern Poitou to establish a community dedicated to the Virgin Mary. This became Fontevraud Abbey, which would enjoy the patronage of their granddaughter Eleanor, William arrived in the Holy Land in 1101 and stayed there until the following year. His record as a leader is not very impressive. He fought mostly skirmishes in Anatolia and was frequently defeated and his recklessness led to his being ambushed on several occasions, with great losses to his own forces. William, like his father and many magnates of the time, had a relationship with the Church. He was excommunicated twice, the first time in 1114 for an infringement of the Churchs tax privileges. His response to this was to demand absolution from Peter, Bishop of Poitiers, as the bishop was at the point of pronouncing the anathema, the duke threatened him with a sword, swearing to kill him if he did not pronounce absolution. Bishop Peter, surprised, pretended to comply, but when the duke, satisfied, released him, according to contemporaries, William hesitated a moment before sheathing his sword and replying, I dont love you enough to send you to paradise

15.
Peter Abelard
–
Peter Abelard was a medieval French scholastic philosopher, theologian and preeminent logician. His love for, and affair with, Héloïse dArgenteuil have become legendary, the Chambers Biographical Dictionary describes him as the keenest thinker and boldest theologian of the 12th Century. Abelard, originally called Pierre le Pallet, was born c. 1079 in Le Pallet, about 10 miles east of Nantes, in Brittany, as a boy, he learned quickly. Instead of entering a career, as his father had done. During his early academic pursuits, Abelard wandered throughout France, debating and learning and he first studied in the Loire area, where the nominalist Roscellinus of Compiègne, who had been accused of heresy by Anselm, was his teacher during this period. Around 1100, Abelards travels finally brought him to Paris, in the great cathedral school of Notre-Dame de Paris, he was taught for a while by William of Champeaux, the disciple of Anselm of Laon, a leading proponent of Realism. During this time he changed his surname to Abelard, sometimes written Abailard or Abaelardus, and William thought Abelard was too arrogant. It was during this time that Abelard would provoke quarrels with both William and Roscellinus and his teaching was notably successful, though for a time he had to give it up and spend time in Brittany, the strain proving too great for his constitution. Abelard was once more victorious, and Abelard was almost able to hold the position of master at Notre Dame, for a short time, however, William was able to prevent Abelard from lecturing in Paris. Abelard accordingly was forced to resume his school at Melun, which he was able to move, from c. 1110-12, to Paris itself, on the heights of Montagne Sainte-Geneviève. From his success in dialectic, he turned to theology and in 1113 moved to Laon to attend the lectures of Anselm on biblical exegesis. Unimpressed by Anselms teaching, Abelard began to offer his own lectures on the Book of Ezekiel, Anselm forbade him to continue this teaching, and Abelard returned to Paris where, in around 1115, he became master of Notre Dame and a canon of Sens. Distinguished in figure and manners, Abelard was seen surrounded by crowds – it is thousands of students – drawn from all countries by the fame of his teaching. Enriched by the offerings of his pupils, and entertained with universal admiration, he came, as he says, but a change in his fortunes was at hand. In his devotion to science, he had lived a very regular life, enlivened only by philosophical debate, now, at the height of his fame. Héloïse dArgenteuil lived within the precincts of Notre-Dame, under the care of her uncle and she was remarkable for her knowledge of classical letters, which extended beyond Latin to Greek and Hebrew. Abelard sought a place in Fulberts house and, in 1115 or 1116, the affair interfered with his career, and Abelard himself boasted of his conquest. Once Fulbert found out, he separated them, but they continued to meet in secret, Héloïse became pregnant and was sent by Abelard to be looked after by his family in Brittany, where she gave birth to a son whom she named Astrolabe after the scientific instrument

16.
Demetrius I of Georgia
–
Demetrius I, from the Bagrationi dynasty, was King of Georgia from 1125 to 1156. He is also known as a poet, Demetrius was the eldest son of King David the Builder by his first wife Rusudan. As a commander, he took part in his father’s battles, particularly at Didgori, Demetrius succeeded on his father’s death on January 24,1125. With his ascent to the throne, the Seljuk Turks attacked the Georgian-held city of Ani, Demetrius I had to compromise and ceded the city to a Seljuk ruler under terms of vassalage. In 1139, he raided the city of Ganja in Arran. He brought the gate of the defeated city to Georgia and donated it to Gelati Monastery at Kutaisi. Despite this brilliant victory, Demetrius could hold Ganja only for a few years, in 1130, Demetrius revealed a plot of nobles, probably involving the kings half-brother Vakhtang. The King arrested the conspirators and executed one of their leaders, Ioanne Abuletisdze, in 1154 David, Demetriuss elder son forced his father to abdicate and become a monk, receiving the monastic name Damian. However, David died six months later and King Demetrius was restored to the throne, David was survived by his son Demna who was regarded by the aristocratic opposition as a lawful pretender. He died in 1156 and was buried at Gelati Monastery and he is regarded as a saint in the Orthodox Church and his feast day is celebrated on May 23 on the Eastern Orthodox liturgical calendar. Shen Khar Venakhi, a hymn to the Virgin Mary, is the most famous of them, family of David IV of Georgia The Bagrationi Dynasty Listen to the hymn “Thou Art the Vineyard” St Damiane the King and Hymnographer Orthodox synaxarion

17.
Hildegard of Bingen
–
Hildegard of Bingen, O. S. B. also known as Saint Hildegard and Sibyl of the Rhine, was a German Benedictine abbess, writer, composer, philosopher, Christian mystic, visionary, and polymath. She is considered to be the founder of scientific history in Germany. Hildegard was elected magistra by her fellow nuns in 1136, she founded the monasteries of Rupertsberg in 1150, One of her works as a composer, the Ordo Virtutum, is an early example of liturgical drama and arguably the oldest surviving morality play. She is also noted for the invention of a language known as Lingua Ignota. Although the history of her formal consideration is complicated, she has recognized as a saint by branches of the Roman Catholic Church for centuries. On 7 October 2012, Pope Benedict XVI named her a Doctor of the Church, Hildegard was born around the year 1098, although the exact date is uncertain. Her parents were Mechtild of Merxheim-Nahet and Hildebert of Bermersheim, a family of the lower nobility in the service of the Count Meginhard of Sponheim. Sickly from birth, Hildegard is traditionally considered their youngest and tenth child, in her Vita, Hildegard states that from a very young age she had experienced visions. The date of Hildegards enclosure at the monastery is the subject of debate and her Vita says she was professed with an older woman, Jutta, the daughter of Count Stephan II of Sponheim, at the age of eight. However, Juttas date of enclosure is known to have been in 1112 and their vows were received by Bishop Otto Bamberg on All Saints Day,1112. Some scholars speculate that Hildegard was placed in the care of Jutta at the age of eight, in any case, Hildegard and Jutta were enclosed together at the Disibodenberg, and formed the core of a growing community of women attached to the male monastery. Jutta was also a visionary and thus attracted many followers who came to visit her at the cloister, Hildegard tells us that Jutta taught her to read and write, but that she was unlearned and therefore incapable of teaching Hildegard sound biblical interpretation. The written record of the Life of Jutta indicates that Hildegard probably assisted her in reciting the psalms, working in the garden and other handiwork and this might have been a time when Hildegard learned how to play the ten-stringed psaltery. Volmar, a frequent visitor, may have taught Hildegard simple psalm notation, the time she studied music could have been the beginning of the compositions she would later create. Upon Juttas death in 1136, Hildegard was unanimously elected as magistra of the community by her fellow nuns, Abbot Kuno of Disibodenberg asked Hildegard to be Prioress, which would be under his authority. Hildegard, however, wanted more independence for herself and her nuns and this was to be a move towards poverty, from a stone complex that was well established to a temporary dwelling place. When the abbot declined Hildegards proposition, Hildegard went over his head and it was only when the Abbot himself could not move Hildegard that he decided to grant the nuns their own monastery. Hildegard and about twenty nuns thus moved to the St. Rupertsberg monastery in 1150, in 1165 Hildegard founded a second monastery for her nuns at Eibingen

18.
Marcabru
–
Marcabru is one of the earliest troubadours whose poems are known. There is no information about him, the two vidas attached to his poems tell different stories, and both are evidently built on hints in the poems, not on independent information. According to the life in BnF ms. 12473, Marcabrun was from Gascony and was the son of a woman named Marcabrunela. This evidently comes from a reading of poem 293,18, according to the longer biography in MS. Lat.5232 Marcabru was abandoned at a rich mans door and he was brought up by Aldric del Vilar, learned to make poetry from Cercamon, was at first nicknamed Pan-perdut and later Marcabru. He became famous, and the lords of Gascony, about whom he had many bad things. This appears to be based on poems 16b,1 and 293,43 and guesswork, forty-four poems are attributed to Marcabru, learned, often difficult, sometimes obscene, relentlessly critical of the morality of lords and ladies. He experimented with the pastorela, which he uses to point out the futility of lust, one tells of how the speakers advances are reviled by a shepherdess on the basis of class. Another tells of how a mans attempt to seduce a woman whose husband was at the crusades is firmly rebuffed and he may also have originated the tenso in a debate with Uc Catola on the nature of love and the decline of courtly behaviour. Marcabru was an influence on later poets who adopted the obscure trobar clus style. Among his patrons were William X of Aquitaine and, probably, Marcabru may have travelled to Spain in the entourage of Alfonso Jordan, Count of Toulouse, in the 1130s. In the 1140s he was a propagandist for the Reconquista and in his famous poem with the Latin beginning Pax in nomine Domini and he called Spain a lavador where knights could go to have their souls cleansed fighting the infidel. Four monophonic melodies to accompany Marcabrus poetry survive, additionally, three melodies of poems that may be contrafacta of Marcabrus work may be attributed to him

19.
Bernart de Ventadorn
–
Bernart de Ventadorn, also known as Bernard de Ventadour or Bernat del Ventadorn, was a prominent troubadour of the classical age of troubadour poetry. Now thought of as the Master Singer he developed the cançons into a more formalized style which allowed for sudden turns. Bernart was known for being able to portray his woman as an agent in one moment and then, in a sudden twist. This dichotomy in his work is portrayed in a graceful, witty, according to the troubadour Uc de Saint Circ, Bernart was possibly the son of a baker at the castle of Ventadour, in todays Corrèze. From evidence given in Bernarts early poem Lo temps vai e ven e vire, he most likely learned the art of singing and writing from his protector and he composed his first poems to his patrons wife, Marguerite de Turenne. Later Bernart returned to Toulouse, where he was employed by Raimon V, Count of Toulouse, later still he went to Dordogne, about 45 of his works survive. His work probably dates between 1147 and 1180, Bernarts influence also extended to Latin literature. On screen, Bernart was portrayed by actor Paul Blake in the BBC TV drama series The Devils Crown, wilhelm, James J. Lyrics of the Middle Ages, an anthology, New York, Garland Pub. ISBN 0-8240-7049-6 Bernart de Ventadorn, Complete Works

20.
Peire d'Alvernhe
–
Peire dAlvernhe or dAlvernha was an Auvergnat troubadour with twenty-one or twenty-four surviving works. He composed in an esoteric and formally complex style known as the trobar clus and he stands out as the earliest troubadour mentioned by name in Dantes Divine Comedy. According to his vida, Peire was a son from the Diocese of Clermont. As testified to by his vida, his popularity was great within his lifetime, said to be handsome, charming, wise, and learned, he was the first good inventor of poetry to go beyond the mountains and travel in Spain. He passed his time in Spain at the court of Alfonso VII of Castile and it is possible that he was present at a meeting between Sancho of Castile, Sancho VI of Navarre and Raymond Berengar IV of Barcelona in 1158. The author of his vida, editorialising, considers his poems to have been the greatest until Giraut de Borneill, the anonymous biographer records that his information about Peires later years comes from Dalfi dAlvernha. It has been suggested that Dalfi was the author of the vida, according to an accusation of fellow troubadour Bernart Marti, Peire entered upon a religious life early, but quit Holy Orders for a life of itinerant minstrelsy. He may be the person as the Petrus dAlvengue and Petrus de Alvernia who appear in surviving documents from Montpellier dated to the year 1148. Peire appears to have cultivated the favour of the family of the Crown of Aragon. Perhaps he was following the fashion of the lords of Montpellier of his time, at the same time Peire did garner the support of Raymond V of Toulouse. In his wanderings he may have spent some time at Cortezon, at the court of the minor nobleman, Peire lived a long into old age, and performed penance before dying. Peire wrote mostly cansos, which, as his vida points out, were called vers in his day and he also invented the pious song and wrote six such poems dealing with serious themes of religion, piety, and spirituality. Even in his more profane works, however, one can detect the influence of Marcabru. One of Marcabrus late songs is a satire of a one by Peire dAlvernhe. Marcabrus complexity was also imparted to Peire, on the topic of courtly love, Peire, who had abandoned the religious life early, came to abandon the claims of finamor later. When Peire espouses love of the Holy Ghost over cortez amors de bon aire he is the only troubadour to ever use the term courtly love, Marcabrunian influence can be seen here too. In a later Crusade song, Peire defended Marcabrus abandonment of the carnal amar and he advocates gran sabers ni purs through bonamor. Along with Bernart Marti, Bernart de Venzac, and Gavaudan, quar si feys, fols joglars es per que lentiers pretz cambia

21.
Giraut de Bornelh
–
Giraut de Bornelh, whose first name is also spelled Guiraut and whose toponym as de Borneil or de Borneyll, was a troubadour connected to the castle of the viscount of Limoges. He is credited with the formalisation, if not the invention, of the light style, Giraut was born to a lower-class family in the Limousin, probably in Bourney, near Excideuil in modern-day France. Guiraut might have accompanied Richard I of England and Aimar V of Limoges on the Third Crusade and stayed a while with the prince of Antioch. He certainly made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, but perhaps before the Crusade, notable pieces include, Sanc jorn aqui joi e solaz, a planh about the death of Raimbaut dAurenga. Ara·m platz, Giraut de Borneill, a tenso with Raimbaut dAurenga discussing trobar clus versus trobar leu. Be me plairia, senhen reis, a tenso with king Alfons II of Aragon Giraut contributes to the debate as to whether a lady is dishonoured by taking a lover who is richer than herself. This debate was begun by Guilhem de Saint-Leidier, taken up by Azalais de Porcairagues and Raimbaut dAurenga, reis glorios, a well-known alba Sharman, Ruth V. The Cansos and Sirventes of the Troubadour Giraut de Borneil, Guiraut de Bornelh, Songs, vol.1 and Songs, vol.2 Complete works, including all extant melodies at trobar. org

22.
Berenguier de Palazol
–
Berenguier de Palazol, Palol, or Palou was a Catalan troubadour from Palol in the County of Roussillon. Of his total output twelve cansos survive, and a relatively high proportion—eight—with melodies, only some sketchy details of Berenguiers life can be gleaned from surviving records. According to his vida he was a knight, but well-trained and skilled in arms. Other evidence suggests that his family was well-off and he appears in five documents of Roussillon between 1196 and 1209, all under the Latin name Berengarius de Palatiolo. The earliest dates of his career are determined by the fact that he was a vassal of Gausfred III of Roussillon and it is quite possible that Berenguier was one of the earliest troubadours, and the poems that mention Jaufres may date as early as 1150. Berenguier does not seem to have had contact with his fellow troubadours. He may have met Pons dOrtaffa late in life, and the latter may address him in one of his songs as Senher En Berenguier, all of Berenguiers surviving works deal with the theme of courtly love. One of his cansos was a model for a sirventes by his contemporary Raimbaut de Vaqueiras, the chief object of the love of his songs is Ermessen dAvinyo, wife of Arnaut dAvinyo. According to Berenguiers vida, Arnaut was a son of Maria de Peiralada, but this is probably a confusion with Maria domina de Petralata, the mother of Soremonda, the lover of Guillem de Cabestany. Berenguiers works cannot be ordered with any confidence, but they have been ordered in a scheme which seeks to present some logical development of a theme. The theme which runs through these works cannot be connected to events in Berenguiers life, nonetheless, the developing of the theme corresponds to stages in the life of a lover. Aital dona cum ieu sai In this work Berenguier praises the perfection of his lady and she is proud and has many suitors. She does, however, lend him ear, dona, si totz temps vivia Berenguier pledges to seek no other lover, even though his lady seems out of reach. Dona, la genser quom veya Berenguier resolves to be patient, aissi quon hom que senhor ochaizona Berenguier is at the ladys mercy, yet she is not faithful to him as he is to her. Seu anc per fola entendensa Berenguier wishes his lady would spare him this torment, sieu sabi aver guiardo Berenguier has failed, but he expresses hope that this song may yet get her attention. Tant mabelis joys et amors e chans Finally Berenguier is rewarded for his persistence by his ladys attention, in her absence she gives him strength and in the cold warmth, she encourages his singing. Mais ai de talan que no suelh Berenguier is joyful and he only wishes he could see his lady every moment. Bona dona, cuy ricx pretz fai valer The lady withdraws from Berenguier and he should leave her, but he could not endure it, nor find any woman better

23.
Arnaut de Mareuil
–
Arnaut de Mareuil was a troubadour, composing lyric poetry in the Occitan language. Twenty-five, perhaps twenty-nine, of his songs, all cansos, survive and he is said to have been a clerk from a poor family who eventually became a jongleur, he settled at the courts of Toulouse and then Béziers. He apparently loved the countess Azalais, daughter of Raymond V of Toulouse, married to Roger II Trencavel, and Arnauts surviving poems may be seen as a sequence telling of his love. Alfonso II of Aragon was his rival for Azalaiss affections, and according to the razó to one of Arnauts poems and he fled to Montpellier, where he found a patron in count William VIII. Arnauts cantaire and jongleur was Pistoleta, biographies des troubadours, ed. J. Boutière, A. -H. Gaunt, Simon, and Kay, Sarah The Troubadours, An Introduction, johnston, R. C. Les poèsies lyriques du troubadour Arnaut de Mareuil

24.
Bertran de Born
–
Bertran de Born was a baron from the Limousin in France, and one of the major Occitan troubadours of the twelfth century. Bertran de Born was the eldest son of Bertran de Born, lord of Hautefort and he had two younger brothers, Constantine and Itier. His father died in 1178, and Bertran succeeded him as lord of Hautefort, by this time, he was already married to his first wife, Raimonda, and had two sons. Hautefort lies at the border between the Limousin and Périgord, as a result, Bertran became involved in the conflicts of the sons of Henry II Plantagenet. He was also fighting for control of Hautefort, according to the feudal custom of his region, he was not the only lord of Hautefort, but held it jointly with his brothers. Bertrans struggle, especially with his brother Constantine, is at the heart of his poetry and his first datable work is a sirventes of 1181, but it is clear from this he already had a reputation as a poet. In 1182, he was present at his overlord Henry II of Englands court at Argentan and that same year, he had joined in Henry the Young Kings revolt against his younger brother, Richard, Count of Poitou and Duke of Aquitaine. He wrote songs encouraging Aimar V of Limoges and others to rebel and his brother Constantine took the opposing side, and Bertran drove him out of the castle in July. Henry the Young King, whom Bertran had praised and criticised in his poems, Bertran wrote a planh, in his memory, Mon chan fenisc ab dol et ab maltraire. In his punitive campaign against the rebels, Richard, aided by Alfonso II of Aragon, besieged Autafort, Henry II, however, is reported to have been moved by Bertrans lament for his son, and returned the castle to the poet. Constantine seems to have become a mercenary, Bertran was reconciled also with Richard, whom he supported in turn against Philip II of France. At various times, he sought to exploit the dissensions among the Angevins in order to keep his independence and he gave them senhals, Henry the Young King was Mariniers, Geoffrey of Brittany was Rassa, and Richard, Oc-e-Non. He commemorated Geoffreys death in the planh, A totz dic que ja mais non voil and he had contact with a number of other troubadours and also with the Northern French trouvère, Conon de Béthune, whom he addressed as Mon Ysombart. Although he composed a few cansos, Bertran de Born was predominantly a master of the sirventes, when Richard was released from captivity after being suspected of Conrads murder, Bertran welcomed his return with Ar ven la coindeta sazos. Ironically, one of Bertrans sources of income was from the market of Châlus-Cabrol, widowed for the second time c. 1196, Bertran became a monk and entered the Cistercian abbey of Dalon at Sainte-Trie in the Dordogne region and he had made numerous grants to the abbey over the years. His last datable song was written in 1198 and he ceases to appear in charters after 1202, and was certainly dead by 1215, when there is a record of a payment for a candle for his tomb. His œuvre consists of about 47 works,36 unambiguously attributed to him in the manuscripts, by his first wife, Raimonda, he had two sons and a daughter, Bertran, also a troubadour, still living in 1223

25.
Heinrich von Veldeke
–
Heinrich von Veldeke is the first writer in the Low Countries that we know by name who wrote in a European language other than Latin. He was born in Veldeke, a hamlet on the territory of Spalbeek, the ‘Velkermolen’, a water mill on the Demer river, is the only remainder of this hamlet. In Limburg he is celebrated as a writer of the Old Limburgish, Veldeke’s years of birth and death are uncertain. He must have been born before or around 1150, as he was writing in the early 1170s, there is no evidence that Veldeke was born in 1128, as is often suggested. He certainly died after 1184, because he mentions in his Eneas that he was present at the day that emperor Frederik Barbarossa organised in Mainz at Pentecost of that year. He must have died before Wolfram von Eschenbach wrote his Parzival, Wolfram mentions in that work that Veldeke died prematurely. Veldeke probably was a member of a ministerial class family, the existence of such a family is mentioned in deeds from the thirteenth century. It may be concluded that he received an education, as he used Latin sources in his works. There are two forms of the name that are commonly encountered in modern scholarship, Hendrik van Veldeke or Heinrich von Veldeke. The choice is usually indicative of whether Veldeke is thought of writing in a Dutch or a German literary tradition, other manuscripts give the place name Veldeke variously as Veldekin Veltkilchen or Waldecke. The choice by English language writers varies according to discipline, but as more Germanists work on Veldeke than Netherlandists, sometimes the poets place of origin Veldeke is also used to denote the author without taking a side in the dispute. Veldeke wrote the Life of Saint Servatius, which was likely his first work, for mister Hessel, sexton of the Maastricht Servatius chapter, the work consists of two parts. The first part is a biography of Servatius of Maastricht, the saint of that town. This part is dated around 1170. The second part treats the miracles of Servatius after his death and it is sometimes assumed that the second part of the opus was only written between 1174 and 1185. Servatius is an Armenian who travels to Lorraine and becomes bishop of Tongeren, the sinful citizens of Tongeren turn against him, causing him to flee to Maastricht. His prayers go unfulfilled, but Peter does give him a key with which Servatius can grant mercy. The citizens of Tongeren are all killed, but Servatius grants them mercy, Maastricht was situated on an important crossroads, the road from Cologne from the west, the Meuse river as north-south axis

26.
Vidame de Chartres
–
Guillaume de Ferrières was a French nobleman, probably the same person as the trouvère known only as the Vidame de Chartres. Eight songs in total have been attributed to the Vidame, though all, guillaume took part in the Third and Fourth Crusades, and died in Romania as part of the latter. Quant la saison was, by implication, written years prior. The rather garbled and uncertain melodies which accompany the Vidames poems further support a date for the trouvère. One piece of evidence relating to the identity of the Vidame has not yet been adequately explained. The coat of arms with which the trouvère is depicted in his portrait in the Chansonnier du Roi belonged mid-century to the Meslay family. Only one of the eight songs variously attributed to the Vidame is not also ascribed to another, only three, however, are regularly doubted to be his, and only one of these—Quant foillissent li boscage—is almost certainly not his. One of the two, Desconsilliez plus que nus hom qui soit, which survives without music, is attributed in one manuscript to Li viscuens de Chartres. Five of the Vidames songs are basically isometric and decasyllabic, the remaining three are heterometric but mainly octosyllabic. With the sole exception of Li plus desconfortés du mont, all his melodies are preserved in bar form, though most survive with modal structures, these vary from manuscript to manuscript and are unreliable

27.
Raimbaut of Orange
–
Raimbaut of Orange or, in his native Old Occitan, Raimbaut dAurenga, was the lord of Orange and Aumelas. His properties included the towns of Frontignan and Mireval and he was the only son of William of Aumelas and of Tiburge, daughter of Raimbaut, count of Orange. After the early death of Raimbauts father, his guardians were his uncle William VII of Montpellier and he was a major troubadour, having contributed to the creation of trobar ric, or articulate style, in troubadour poetry. About forty of his works survive, displaying a gusto for rare rhymes and his death in 1173 is mourned in a planh by Giraut de Bornelh, and also in the only surviving poem of the trobairitz Azalais de Porcairagues, who was the lover of Raimbauts cousin Gui Guerrejat. Aimo Sakari argues that Azalais is the mysterious joglar addressed in several poems by Raimbaut, complete works in Provençal and their English translation

28.
Guilhem de Saint-Leidier
–
Guilhem de Saint-Leidier, also spelled Guilhem de Saint Deslier, Guillem de Saint Deidier and Guilhèm de Sant Leidier was a troubadour of the 12th century, composing in Occitan. He was lord of Saint Didier-en-Velay, was born at some date before 1150 and he was said to have loved Belissende, sister of Dalfi dAlvernha and wife of Eracle III of Polignac, Guilhems feudal overlord. His known work includes fifteen cansos, one tensó and one planh, indications in the text and in his vida suggest that he worked in Gascony, Comminges, the Agenais, and the Bordelais. He is the first poet named in the survey by the Monk of Montaudon. With one of his poems Guilhem began a debate on the question whether a lady is dishonoured by taking a lover who is richer or more powerful than herself. The one known poem by the trobairitz Azalais de Porcairagues appears to contribute to debate, as does one by her friend Raimbaut of Orange. Soon afterwards there is a partimen on the topic between Dalfi dAlvernha and Perdigon, and then a tensó between Guiraut de Bornelh and king Alfonso II of Aragon, Guilhems daughters son, Gauseran, was also a troubadour. A. Sakari, Poésies du troubadour Guillem de Saint-Didier, a. Sakari, Azalais de Porcairagues, le Joglar de Raimbaut dOrange in Neuphilologische Mitteilungen vol.50 pp. 23–43, 56-87, 174-198. Biographies des troubadours ed. J. Boutière, A. -H

29.
Arnaut Daniel
–
Arnaut Daniel was an Occitan troubadour of the 12th century, praised by Dante as a the best smith and called a grand master of love by Petrarch. In the 20th century he was lauded by Ezra Pound in the The Spirit of Romance as the greatest poet to have ever lived, raimon de Durfort calls him a student, ruined by dice and shut-the-box. He was the inventor of the sestina, a song of six stanzas of six each, with the same end words repeated in every stanza, though arranged in a different. In Dantes The Divine Comedy, Arnaut Daniel appears as a character doing penance in Purgatory for lust and he responds in Old Occitan to the narrators question about who he is, «Tan mabellis vostre cortes deman, quieu no me puesc ni voill a vos cobrire. Ieu sui Arnaut, que plor e vau cantan, consiros vei la passada folor, e vei jausen lo joi quesper, denan. Ara vos prec, per aquella valor que vos guida al som de lescalina, sovenha vos a temps de ma dolor» Translation, Your courteous question pleases me so, that I cannot and will not hide from you. I am Arnaut, who weeping and singing go, Contrite I see the folly of the past, And, joyous, therefore do I implore you, by that power Which guides you to the summit of the stairs, Remember my suffering, in the right time. In homage to these lines which Dante gave to Daniel, the European edition of T. S. Eliots second volume of poetry was titled Ara Vos Prec, in addition, Eliots poem The Waste Land opens and closes with references to Dante and Daniel. The Waste Land is dedicated to Pound as il miglior fabbro which is what Dante had called Daniel. The poem also contains a reference to Canto XXVI in its line Poi sascose nel foco che gli affina which appears in Eliots closing section of The Waste Land as it does to end Dantes canto. There are sixteen extant lyrics of Arnaut Daniel, there is music for at least one of them, but it was composed at least a century after the poets death by an anonymous author

30.
Folquet de Marselha
–
Folquet de Marselha, alternatively Folquet de Marseille, Foulques de Toulouse, Fulk of Toulouse came from a Genoese merchant family who lived in Marseille. He is known as a trobadour, and then as a fiercely anti-Cathar bishop of Toulouse. He is known primarily for his songs, which were lauded by Dante, there are 14 surviving cansos, one tenson, one lament, one invective. A contemporary, John of Garlande, later described him as renowned on account of his spouse, his progeny, Folquets life and career abruptly changed around 1195 when he experienced a profound religious conversion and decided to renounce his former life. He joined the strict Cistercian Order, entering the monastery of Thoronet and he soon rose in prominence and was elected abbot of Thoronet which allowed him to help found the sister house of Géménos to house women, quite possibly including his wife. He was elected Bishop of Toulouse in 1205, after two Cistercian Papal legates had been sent to the region to reform it, pope Innocent III was particularly concerned by the prevalence of both heresy and episcopal corruption in the Languedoc and used the Cistercians to combat both. The legates had deposed the previous Bishop, Raimon de Rabastens, as Bishop of Toulouse, Folquet took a very active role in combatting heresy. Throughout his episcopal career he sought to create and encourage outlets for religious enthusiasm that were Catholic in an effort to woo away from preachers of heresy. In 1206 he created what would become the convent of Prouille to offer women a religious community that would rival those of the Cathars and he participated in the initial preaching mission of Saint Dominic that was led by Dominics superior, Bishop Diego of Osma. Bishop Foulques had tumultuous relations with his diocese, primarily on account of his support of the Albigensian Crusade, hated by many Toulousains and by Count Raymond VI of Toulouse he left Toulouse on 2 April 1211, after the crusaders laid siege to Lavaur. Soon afterwards he instructed all clerics to leave the city and he was present at the siege in April–May 1211, he then travelled north to France, where he preached the Crusade alongside Guy of les Vaux-de-Cernay. In July 1215 Foulques issued a letter instituting Dominics brotherhood of preachers. In November 1215 he and Dominic, with Guy of Montfort, were in Rome at the Fourth Lateran Council, in October 1217, when Simon was besieging Toulouse once more, he sent a group of sympathisers to Paris to plead for the help of king Philippe-Auguste. This group included Simons wife, the countess Alix de Montmorency and they began their journey clandestinely, through the forest, to avoid attacks by faidits. They returned more flamboyantly, in May 1218, bringing a party of new Crusaders including the dashing Amaury de Craon, Foulques spent much of the following decade outside his diocese, assisting the crusading army and the Churchs attempts to bring order to the region. He was at the Council of Sens in 1223, after the Peace of Paris finally ended the crusade in 1229, Foulques returned to Toulouse and began to construct the institutions that were designed to combat heresy in the region. He helped to create the University of Toulouse and administered the newly created Episcopal Inquisition. He died in 1231 and was buried, beside the tomb of William VII of Montpellier, at the abbey of Grandselves, near Toulouse, stanislaw Stronski, Le troubadour Folquet de Marseille

List of Renaissance composers
–
This is a list of composers active during the Renaissance period of European history. Composers on this list had some period of significant activity after 1400, before 1600, or in a few cases they wrote music in a Renaissance idiom in the several decades after 1600. The Burgundian School was a group of composers active in the 15th century in what i

Romanos the Melodist
–
Saint Romanos the Melodist or the Hymnographer, was one of the greatest of Syrio-Greek hymnographers, called the Pindar of rhythmic poetry. He flourished during the century, which is considered to be the Golden Age of Byzantine hymnography. The main source of information about the life of Romanos comes from the Menaion for October, beyond this, his

1.
Icon of Romanus the Melodist (1649)

2.
Romanos and Virgin Mary, Miniature from the Menologion of Basil II

Yared
–
Saint Yared was a legendary Ethiopian musician credited with inventing the sacred music tradition of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church and Ethiopias system of musical notation. He is responsible for creating the Zema or the chant tradition of Ethiopia, particularly the chants of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church and he is regarded as a saint of th

1.
Saint Yared

Otfrid of Weissenburg
–
Otfrid of Weissenburg was a monk at the abbey of Weissenburg and the author of a gospel harmony in rhyming couplets now called the Evangelienbuch. It is written in the South Rhine Franconian dialect of Old High German, the poem is thought to have been completed between 863 and 871. Otfrid is the first German poet whose name we know from his work an

1.
Otfrid memorial in Wissembourg

Kassia
–
Kassiani was a Byzantine abbess, poet, composer, and hymnographer. She is one of the first medieval composers whose scores are both extant and able to be interpreted by scholars and musicians. Approximately fifty of her hymns are extant and twenty-three are included in Orthodox Church liturgical books, the exact number is difficult to assess, as ma

1.
Saint Kassia

2.
Modern representation of Theophilos' choice

Notker the Stammerer
–
Notker the Stammerer, also called Notker I, Notker the Poet or Notker of Saint Gall, was a musician, author, poet, and Benedictine monk at the Abbey of Saint Gall in modern Switzerland. He is commonly accepted to be the Monk of Saint Gall who wrote Gesta Karoli, Notker was born around 840, to a distinguished family. He would seem to have born at Jo

1.
Blessed Notker of Saint Gall

2.
Notker Balbulus, from a medieval manuscript

Tuotilo
–
Saint Tuotilo was a medieval monk and composer. Born in Alemannic Germany, he is said to have been a large and powerfully built man, always cheerful and in excellent spirits, he was a general favourite. He received his education at St. Galls, from Iso and he was the friend of Notker of St. Gall, with whom he studied music under Moengal. Educated at

1.
Ivory carving

Leo VI the Wise
–
Leo VI, called the Wise or the Philosopher, was Byzantine Emperor from 886 to 912. The second ruler of the Macedonian dynasty, he was very well-read, born to the empress Eudokia Ingerina, Leo was either the illegitimate son of Emperor Michael III or the second son of his successor, Basil I the Macedonian. Eudokia was both Michael IIIs mistress and

1.
A mosaic in Hagia Sophia showing Leo VI paying homage to Christ

2.
Leo VI (right) and Basil I, from the 11th-century manuscript by John Skylitzes.

3.
The Byzantines flee at Boulgarophygon, miniature from the Madrid Skylitzes

Odo of Cluny
–
Odo of Cluny was the second abbot of Cluny. He enacted various reforms in the Cluniac system of France and Italy and he is venerated as a Saint by the Catholic Church and Eastern Orthodox Church and his feast day is 18 November. There is only one contemporary biography of him, the Vita Odonis written by John of Salerno, Saint Odo was the son of Abb

1.
Odo of Cluny, 11th century miniature

Guido of Arezzo
–
Guido of Arezzo was an Italian music theorist of the Medieval era. He is regarded as the inventor of musical notation that replaced neumatic notation, his text. Guido was a monk of the Benedictine order from the Italian city-state of Arezzo, recent research has dated his Micrologus to 1025 or 1026, since Guido stated in a letter that he was thirty-

1.
Statue of Guido in Arezzo

2.
Guido of Arezzo and Tedald

3.
Guido of Arezzo's house with plaque

Wipo of Burgundy
–
Wipo of Burgundy was a priest and writer. He was a chaplain to the Holy Roman Emperor Conrad II, whose biography he wrote in chronicle form, Gesta Chuonradi II imperatoris. Present at the election of Conrad II, he most likely followed the emperor on his campaigns into Burgundy and against the Slavs and he presented his work to Conrad’s son Henry II

Hermann of Reichenau
–
Hermann of Reichenau, also called Hermannus Contractus or Hermannus Augiensis or Herman the Cripple, was an 11th-century scholar, composer, music theorist, mathematician, and astronomer. He composed the Marian prayer Alma Redemptoris Mater, Hermann was a son of the Earl of Altshausen. He was crippled by a disease from early childhood. He was born J

1.
Relics of Hermann in Altshausen, Germany

2.
An artistic rendering of "Herman the Lame" as he is sometimes called

Godric of Finchale
–
Saint Godric of Finchale was an English hermit, merchant and popular medieval saint, although he was never formally canonised. He was born in Walpole in Norfolk and died in Finchale in County Durham, Saint Godrics life was recorded by a contemporary of his, a monk named Reginald of Durham. Several other hagiographies are also extant and this encoun

1.
St Godric

2.
13th-century manuscript of the four hymns of St Godric

3.
Finchale Priory on the River Wear on the site of Godfric's hermitage

William IX, Duke of Aquitaine
–
William IX, called the Troubador, was the Duke of Aquitaine and Gascony and Count of Poitou between 1086 and his death. He was also one of the leaders of the Crusade of 1101, William was the son of William VIII of Aquitaine by his third wife, Hildegarde of Burgundy. His birth was a cause of celebration at the Aquitanian court. This obliged his fath

1.
Miniature of William from a 13th-century chansonnier now in the Bibliothèque nationale de France

2.
William from a 13th-century chansonnier.

Peter Abelard
–
Peter Abelard was a medieval French scholastic philosopher, theologian and preeminent logician. His love for, and affair with, Héloïse dArgenteuil have become legendary, the Chambers Biographical Dictionary describes him as the keenest thinker and boldest theologian of the 12th Century. Abelard, originally called Pierre le Pallet, was born c. 1079

1.
Peter Abelard

2.
Abelard and Heloïse in a manuscript of the Roman de la Rose (14th century)

Demetrius I of Georgia
–
Demetrius I, from the Bagrationi dynasty, was King of Georgia from 1125 to 1156. He is also known as a poet, Demetrius was the eldest son of King David the Builder by his first wife Rusudan. As a commander, he took part in his father’s battles, particularly at Didgori, Demetrius succeeded on his father’s death on January 24,1125. With his ascent to

1.
"Coronation of Demetrius I, a fresco by Michael Maglakeli from the Matskhvarishi monastery, 1142

Hildegard of Bingen
–
Hildegard of Bingen, O. S. B. also known as Saint Hildegard and Sibyl of the Rhine, was a German Benedictine abbess, writer, composer, philosopher, Christian mystic, visionary, and polymath. She is considered to be the founder of scientific history in Germany. Hildegard was elected magistra by her fellow nuns in 1136, she founded the monasteries of

1.
Illumination from the Liber Scivias showing Hildegard receiving a vision and dictating to her scribe and secretary

2.
Scivias I.6: The Choirs of Angels. From the Rupertsberg manuscript, fol. 38r.

3.
The Church, the Bride of Christ and Mother of the Faithful in Baptism. Illustration to Scivias II.3, fol. 51r from the 20th-century facsimile of the Rupertsberg manuscript, c. 1165-1180

Marcabru
–
Marcabru is one of the earliest troubadours whose poems are known. There is no information about him, the two vidas attached to his poems tell different stories, and both are evidently built on hints in the poems, not on independent information. According to the life in BnF ms. 12473, Marcabrun was from Gascony and was the son of a woman named Marc

1.
A miniature portrait of Marcabru beside his vida in a 13th-century chansonnier.

Bernart de Ventadorn
–
Bernart de Ventadorn, also known as Bernard de Ventadour or Bernat del Ventadorn, was a prominent troubadour of the classical age of troubadour poetry. Now thought of as the Master Singer he developed the cançons into a more formalized style which allowed for sudden turns. Bernart was known for being able to portray his woman as an agent in one mom

1.
Bernautz de Ventadorn (Old Occitan spelling), as depicted in a medieval vida.

Peire d'Alvernhe
–
Peire dAlvernhe or dAlvernha was an Auvergnat troubadour with twenty-one or twenty-four surviving works. He composed in an esoteric and formally complex style known as the trobar clus and he stands out as the earliest troubadour mentioned by name in Dantes Divine Comedy. According to his vida, Peire was a son from the Diocese of Clermont. As testif

1.
Peire d'Alvernhe as an old man.

Giraut de Bornelh
–
Giraut de Bornelh, whose first name is also spelled Guiraut and whose toponym as de Borneil or de Borneyll, was a troubadour connected to the castle of the viscount of Limoges. He is credited with the formalisation, if not the invention, of the light style, Giraut was born to a lower-class family in the Limousin, probably in Bourney, near Excideuil

1.
"Girautz de Borneill" (as written at top) in a 13th-century chansonnier.

Berenguier de Palazol
–
Berenguier de Palazol, Palol, or Palou was a Catalan troubadour from Palol in the County of Roussillon. Of his total output twelve cansos survive, and a relatively high proportion—eight—with melodies, only some sketchy details of Berenguiers life can be gleaned from surviving records. According to his vida he was a knight, but well-trained and skil

1.
Berengiers de palazol si fo de cataloigna, del comtat de rossillon, paubres cavallier fo... "Berenguier de Palazol was from Catalonia, from the county of Roussillon, a poor knight he was..."

Arnaut de Mareuil
–
Arnaut de Mareuil was a troubadour, composing lyric poetry in the Occitan language. Twenty-five, perhaps twenty-nine, of his songs, all cansos, survive and he is said to have been a clerk from a poor family who eventually became a jongleur, he settled at the courts of Toulouse and then Béziers. He apparently loved the countess Azalais, daughter of

1.
Arnaut standing amidst an initial S in a 13th-century chansonnier.

Bertran de Born
–
Bertran de Born was a baron from the Limousin in France, and one of the major Occitan troubadours of the twelfth century. Bertran de Born was the eldest son of Bertran de Born, lord of Hautefort and he had two younger brothers, Constantine and Itier. His father died in 1178, and Bertran succeeded him as lord of Hautefort, by this time, he was alrea

1.
Bertran as a knight, from a 13th-century chansonnier

2.
Bertran jousting, from a 13th-century manuscript

3.
Doré's illustration of Bertran in Hell, from Dante's L'Inferno

Heinrich von Veldeke
–
Heinrich von Veldeke is the first writer in the Low Countries that we know by name who wrote in a European language other than Latin. He was born in Veldeke, a hamlet on the territory of Spalbeek, the ‘Velkermolen’, a water mill on the Demer river, is the only remainder of this hamlet. In Limburg he is celebrated as a writer of the Old Limburgish,

1.
Van Veldeke monument in Hasselt, Belgium

2.
Eneas Romance illustration

3.
Van Veldeke in the Codex Manesse (14th century)

Vidame de Chartres
–
Guillaume de Ferrières was a French nobleman, probably the same person as the trouvère known only as the Vidame de Chartres. Eight songs in total have been attributed to the Vidame, though all, guillaume took part in the Third and Fourth Crusades, and died in Romania as part of the latter. Quant la saison was, by implication, written years prior. T

Raimbaut of Orange
–
Raimbaut of Orange or, in his native Old Occitan, Raimbaut dAurenga, was the lord of Orange and Aumelas. His properties included the towns of Frontignan and Mireval and he was the only son of William of Aumelas and of Tiburge, daughter of Raimbaut, count of Orange. After the early death of Raimbauts father, his guardians were his uncle William VII

1.
Raimbaut from a 13th-century chansonnier

Guilhem de Saint-Leidier
–
Guilhem de Saint-Leidier, also spelled Guilhem de Saint Deslier, Guillem de Saint Deidier and Guilhèm de Sant Leidier was a troubadour of the 12th century, composing in Occitan. He was lord of Saint Didier-en-Velay, was born at some date before 1150 and he was said to have loved Belissende, sister of Dalfi dAlvernha and wife of Eracle III of Polign

1.
Guilhem is depicted next to a castle in the manuscript that contains his vida

Arnaut Daniel
–
Arnaut Daniel was an Occitan troubadour of the 12th century, praised by Dante as a the best smith and called a grand master of love by Petrarch. In the 20th century he was lauded by Ezra Pound in the The Spirit of Romance as the greatest poet to have ever lived, raimon de Durfort calls him a student, ruined by dice and shut-the-box. He was the inve

1.
Arnaut Daniel.

Folquet de Marselha
–
Folquet de Marselha, alternatively Folquet de Marseille, Foulques de Toulouse, Fulk of Toulouse came from a Genoese merchant family who lived in Marseille. He is known as a trobadour, and then as a fiercely anti-Cathar bishop of Toulouse. He is known primarily for his songs, which were lauded by Dante, there are 14 surviving cansos, one tenson, one

1.
"Folquet de Marseilla" in a 13th-century chansonnier, depicted in his episcopal robes.

1.
N'aimerics de belenoi si fo de bordales dun castel qa nom lesparra... "Sir Aimeric de Belenoi was from the Bordelais, from a castle called Lesparre..." In his picture he is portrayed tonsured, as a monk.